secondeve Posted January 10, 2008 Group: Nonbeliever Followers: 1 Topic Count: 117 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,276 Content Per Day: 0.19 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 04/02/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/21/1986 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Which is more important: the spirit of the law, or the letter of the law? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven Seals Posted January 17, 2008 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 0 Topics Per Day: 0 Content Count: 12 Content Per Day: 0.00 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/13/2008 Status: Offline Share Posted January 17, 2008 I agree. Spirit no doubt. Letter of the Law will be here when we are gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddavid from NC Posted January 17, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 196 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 1,343 Content Per Day: 0.23 Reputation: 12 Days Won: 1 Joined: 01/15/2008 Status: Offline Birthday: 12/03/1964 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Spirit was the goal of the law, the letter pointed to the need, and the hopelessness of trying to develop that purity without new birth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing Posted February 18, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 400 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 1,903 Content Per Day: 0.31 Reputation: 15 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/20/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 04/19/1942 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Boy, do I ever disagree with you guys. They're both equal! You can't obey the Spirit of the Law without obeying the Letter of the Law. It's like saying, "I don't hate my brother...I killed him, but I don't hate him!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LadyC Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Boy, do I ever disagree with you guys. They're both equal! You can't obey the Spirit of the Law without obeying the Letter of the Law. It's like saying, "I don't hate my brother...I killed him, but I don't hate him!" i guess you don't know yet that we're no longer living under the law, but under grace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddavid from NC Posted February 18, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 196 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 1,343 Content Per Day: 0.23 Reputation: 12 Days Won: 1 Joined: 01/15/2008 Status: Offline Birthday: 12/03/1964 Share Posted February 18, 2008 The Law can no longer condemn us if we are living under grace. But, it still acts as a schoolmaster teaching us godliness and the Father's desire for our lives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondeve Posted February 18, 2008 Group: Nonbeliever Followers: 1 Topic Count: 117 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,276 Content Per Day: 0.19 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 04/02/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/21/1986 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Personally, I tend to lean on the side of the spirit (when it comes to everyday law as well as moral). What sparked off this topic for me was a run-in with a security guard at university. My husband is enrolled as a PhD student, and subsequently has access to the philosophy study after hours and on weekends (he has a key to the door). However, a security guard showed up midday Saturday and tried to turf us out of the building, on the grounds that, due to an administrative error, my husband's enrolment wasn't confirmed, and therefore he had to treat us as tresspassers, even though he (a) was aware that the error was purely administrative because it had happened to several other postgrads (who he'd also kicked out) and (b) could plainly see my husband had both a valid student ID and a key to the building. Eventually, a lecturer came along and vouched for us, but the whole thing took about half an hour. Anyway, I got really riled up about the incident as a clear example of the spirit of law versus the letter. The whole point of the security guard (spirit) is to keep people who aren't allowed out of the building, and look after the people who are allowed in. The letter of the law is administrative - their system tells them who is allowed in, and who's not. In this case, the letter of the law was actually defeating the spirit of the law (I felt) because even though he knew we were people who had a right to the building, he persisted in trying to kick us out in accordance with the letter. What made me post the question here was the dichotomy I often perceive when two Christians differ in interpretation of Biblical verses (i.e. one takes it strictly literally, and the other interprets through a more general understanding of God). This, to me, has big ramifications on the integrity of the Bible as viewed by individual Christians, because it effectively creates a clause-of-faith. i.e. if a literal statement proves distressing, it can be overruled by the spirit of the law without being proven incorrect. This means that even where a given Biblical statement might be called untrue if literal, they still believe that the Bible is inerrant. And that, I think, puts a very interesting emphasis on whether the spirit or the letter of the law is more important, because while this principle works well for the majority of the text, there are still some issues which push at the edges. So which consideration is more important to interpreting the Bible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard_yaash Posted February 18, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 4 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 940 Content Per Day: 0.16 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/10/2008 Status: Offline Share Posted February 18, 2008 Personally, I tend to lean on the side of the spirit (when it comes to everyday law as well as moral). So which consideration is more important to interpreting the Bible? The 'spirit' of the law. IMO: To keep the 'letter' of the law is easier than the 'spirit' of the law. For the 'letter' is visible and plainly seen, the 'spirit' is inward and goes beyond and much deeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yod Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 the spirit and the letter of the law can not be separated. how can one ascertain the spirit of a law without seeing what was written in the first place to discover it's purpose? In other words, one must first study and know the letter of the law before they can even have an opinion on what the spirit of that law is. They are BOTH equally vital and important Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adarian Posted February 18, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 4 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 526 Content Per Day: 0.07 Reputation: 5 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/23/2004 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/03/1961 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Good answer yod. The Spirit of the law interprets the letter of the law. Without the Spirit of the law, the purpose of the law is often lost, as with secondeve's strange encounter with the security guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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